Pursuit of Happiness
by tncportland
Summary: After a devastating rejection, Kurt goes into a state of depression. Blaine meets a new boy at school that could potentially strike up trouble for the beloved couple.
1. A New Member in Glee Club

The bell rings. Blaine walks down the school hall, trying to make it to Glee rehearsal without biting anyone's head off. He and Kurt had a fight last night. And typically, Kurt had no idea as to why Blaine was so upset with him lately, but Blaine knew.

For the past two months, Kurt has been in a constant state of self-loathing. He's so upset about not getting into NYADA and having to watch Rachel go off to New York without him. Blaine knew that NYADA was Kurt's biggest dream of his whole life. Losing the chance to go there crushed Kurt, and Blaine understood. So Blaine wanted to take the summer and reassure Kurt that things could be better.

They went to movies together. They went bowling with their friends from McKinley, and even Dalton. Its Blaine's senior year of high school and all he wants is to focus on himself this year. But all the while, Kurt continued loathing over NYADA, which made their night outs rather uncomfortable for everyone. Blaine was at his wits end.

After spending an entire summer, comforting the love of his life from his disappointing rejection from the college of his dreams and trying to find some solution to that problem, Blaine wants to do nothing but focus on him. This would be his first time walking down McKinley halls without Kurt. He knew things were going to be different, but lucky Blaine was no stranger to making adjustments.

He adjusted once when he transferred to McKinley from Dalton. He often wondered, since Kurt was done with high school, if he should ever go back to Dalton. But Kurt was the only one who had success in the Glee club. The day Blaine Anderson came to McKinley not only revolutionized his relationship with his boyfriend, but took the Glee club to new heights. He could leave McKinley. He made too many friends there, probably more than he had at Dalton.

At the Bell, Blaine makes his way into the choir room. He sees the familiar faces of Artie, Rory, Brittany, Tina, and Sam. He walks into the room where everyone was unusually quieter than usual. "Hey guys," he said, making his way to a seat next to Sam, "what's up with everyone?"

Sam sighed. "Isn't it obvious?" Sam said. "It's the first glee club meeting since graduation. The first time we've all came in here without Rachel, Finn, Mercedes, or Kurt. Everybody's just trying to get use to us not have those guys. I mean, I knew you miss Kurt."

"Yeah, it does feel a little different without him here." Blaine said. "But hey, who knows? This year we may get new people in Glee that will bring us some new star power."

Little did Blaine know, Mr. Schuester was entering the classroom just as he made that last statement, as usual? "Could have said it better myself Blaine." He said. "This year is going to be completely new for all of us. We had a lot of key players graduate and they're no longer with us, but I'm a little optimistic that with our Nationals victory last year, getting new people into Glee club is going to be a lot easier this year than ever."

"Now that you mention it," Tina said, "things have been different since Nationals."

"Yeah," Artie said, "we're not the outcast that we used to be anymore. People are finally recognizing us for who we are. It's almost like we're kind of cool, for once."

"I did see a rainbow after winning Nationals. I went looking for a leprechaun to see if he had a pot of gold, but the more I ran the more tired I got. So I just went home and ate cookie dough." Brittany said, receiving weird looks from everyone.

"Um, Mr. Shue," Blaine said, "Are we going to go around the school recruiting people again like last time?"

"No offense," Rory said, in his thick Irish accent, "but I don't want to have to do that again."

"Hopefully, we won't have to." Mr. Shuester said. "Maybe we'll get people filling this choir room without that, but we're still going to perform for the school. And this year, we've been requested to perform for just about everything: Prom, Dances, Pep Rallies, everything. Who knows? Maybe some of the newer freshman who have never heard of Glee club would be interested when they see us perform."

A sudden knock at the choir door caught everyone's attention. They all looked over to the doorway and saw a young guy standing there waiting. Blaine could guess that he probably stood head and shoulders with him. He was a black young man, dressed from head to toe with Calvin Kline and Ralph Lauren, very handsome and slim. He was a perfect mixture of Kurt Hummel's poise and Mercedes taste in clothing.

The Glee kids all sat there wondering who he was. And all of them could not take their eyes off of him, especially Blaine. He couldn't tell what it was that was so spectacular about the kid, but something about him mesmerized Blaine.

"I'm sorry to interrupt." The young man finally said. "I was told that this is where the Glee Club was meeting and I was wondering if it was too late to audition."

"Not at all." Mr. Schuester said. "Um, what's your name?"

"My name is Malik. Malik Harris."

"All right, Malik. I'll save the announcements for later on, if you want to go ahead with your audition."

Malik nods and Mr. Shuester sits down next to Blaine on the front row. And Blaine's eyes followed Malik to the center of the choir room. Malik stood nervously tall in front of the piano. Music to With One Look starts to play.

_Broadway_, Blaine thought, _just the thing Kurt would have done_. The opening notes started to put Blaine in a trance, as he, for a few seconds, thought of Kurt and all he did while was in Glee club.

Malik began to sing. His voice was like a light crystal clear tenor. Blaine fell in love with his voice as he sang,

_With one look I can break your heart_

_With one look I play every part_

_I can make your sad heart sing_

_With one look you'll know all you need to know_

_With one smile I'm the boy next door_

_Or the love that you've hungered for_

_When I speak it's with my soul_

_I can play any role_

_No words can tell the stories my eyes tell_

_Watch me when I frown_

_You can't write that down_

_You know I'm right,_

_It's there in black and white_

_When I look your way_

_You'll hear what I say_

_Yes, with one look I put words to shame_

_Just one look sets the screen aflame_

_Silent music starts to play_

_One tear in my eye makes the whole world cry_

_With one look they'll forgive the past_

_They'll rejoice: I've returned at last_

_To my people in the dark_

_Still out there in the dark_

The crescendo in the key change impacted the song beautifully. Blaine went even further into a deep trance. Everything from Malik's voice, his presence, his dress reminded him of Kurt. All of a sudden he saw Kurt standing in Malik's place singing the song.

_Silent music starts to play_

_With one look you'll know all you need to know_

_With one look I'll ignite a blaze_

_I'll return to my glory days_

_They'll say Malik's back at last_

_This time I am staying, I'm staying for good_

_I'll be back where I was born to be_

_With one look I'll be me_

A surprising applause broke Blaine out of his trance. He blinked his eyes and looked toward the center of the room and saw Malik bowing to the class. Blaine thought Malik's song was incredible, as well as Malik himself.

Mr. Shuester walked to the front of the class. "Well," he said, "with a response like that, all I can say is: Welcome to Glee Club."

The club applauded him once again. The bell rang and everyone stayed for a bit to mingle with Malik. He was surrounded by all the kids in the club.

Blaine just sat there in his chair, watching Malik from a distance. Blaine wanted to talk to Malik and congratulate him on his performance. But Blaine didn't want to come off as weird. What would say, anyway? _Wow, you remind me of 'my self-absorbed at the moment boyfriend'_. He thought it best to wait to talk to Malik later, maybe after he and Kurt weren't fighting anymore. He then grabbed his backpack and left the choir room.


	2. Apprehension

Once school was over, Blaine made his way over to the Lima Bean. It was his normal hang out spot, where he and Kurt would always get a cup of coffee. Going to the Lima Bean slowly became their favorite hangout spot, even after Kurt graduated. Kurt loved it so much that he even put in an application to work there. His first day on the job was a week after graduation. Every morning, Kurt went to work and every afternoon, Blaine would swing by and have coffee with him and talk.

Meeting for coffee was Blaine and Kurt's top priority now. Blaine was in his senior year, and Kurt was desperately trying to find some college to go to by next year. They were getting very busy. The busier they got, the less time they had to see each other. Kurt and Blaine took this time to just spend time together and chat about what was going on with each other and try to be each other's support system. Sadly over the past few weeks, all these conversations have been about Kurt, leaving Blaine to be his support. It was starting to become a re-run of what happened when a certain Chandler came into the picture.

Blaine made the mistake, during that time, by being distance. Not this time. It didn't matter how annoying Kurt was being, he was not going to distance him. He was not going to leave any room for anyone to steal his man.

It was a long walk to the Lima Bean, but Blaine made it there just in time as Kurt was taking off his apron and punching out on the time clock. Blaine entered the coffee shop and was greeted by a hug and kiss on the cheek from Kurt. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you." Kurt said with a sigh.

Blaine squeezed Kurt and they walked over to a table together. "Bad day?" Blaine said, already guessing in his mind of what terrible event Kurt was about to expound upon. He sat back in his chair and just waited.

"Uh, the day I find a college will not come soon enough." Kurt said. "I try every day to put up a good front but…" There was a pause. Then all of a sudden a bit of frustration arose in his voice. "I had no idea I was stepping back into high school, when I started here. People here talk to you like you are the most inferior person on the planet. They expect you to give them your undivided attention, when there are already fifty-five things I have to do. And if I have to clean one more toilet, I swear."

Blaine chuckled a little bit. He thought of how humbled Kurt must feel having to be in this position, no more was he feeling superior to everyone. He looked at his boyfriend and saw streaks and stains, even a wrinkle, in his uniform. Blaine would never forget this.

"I really don't see what's so funny, Blaine Anderson." Kurt said defensively.

"Oh, nothing," Blaine said, grinning. "I was just thinking about how you won't be snapping your fingers at the wait staff anymore, after this."

"Very funny." There was another pause in the conversation. Kurt sat across from Blaine staring him down. Blaine looked back at Kurt wondering what the stare was for. Finally Kurt broke the silence and said, "So are we going to talk about what happened last night? Or do I have to be passive aggressive again to force it out of you?"

"What do you mean? I thought that I made myself quite clear."

"You said I was being dramatic. And I was being selfish. Forgive me if losing something that I've been looking forward to, my whole life, hurts me a little."

"Kurt, it's not about NYADA. You could get into any college you wanted to. It's about how over the past three months, I have once again had to revolve everything in my life around you."

"What are you saying? I thought we agree that we would be there for each other. Be each other support? Those were your words, Blaine, not mine."

Blaine could not believe that he had to deal with this again. It was like he was repeating himself like a broken record. Frustration was really starting to boil over him, though he tried to suppress. "I know what I said, Kurt. Jesus! You still don't get it?"

"Get what?"

"When is this relationship going to stop being about you? I had to transfer to McKinley just so I can be with you. And yes, I loved McKinley. I did a lot of awesome stuff there and still am. And I love being with you and all that, but when is this relationship going to stop being the I Love Kurt show and start being about…when is it going to start being about me? This is my senior year. And I have wasted so much time, tending to you, helping you find what college you want to go to, being there for you that neither of us have done anything fun this whole summer, and I'm getting upset about the fact that if Kurt isn't happy, well, nobody can be."

"You make it sound like I soak up all the oxygen in the room. How many times have I been there for you? When your brother was here? When you got the role that I wanted desperately? How did I respond and how was I there for you. I am not the selfish one, Blaine. You are." Those were Kurt final words.

He stood up from the table and walk away to get a cup of coffee. He walked away from Blaine feeling hurt. He already lost the college of his dreams. It just seemed like he was losing Blaine too. One thing was for certain. None of this was he fault at all. It was Blaine who decided to help Kurt for colleges. It was Blaine decided to leave and go home with Kurt, when Kurt starting getting moody during their nights out with friends. Blaine had no reason to be upset with him.

He looked back at Blaine sitting at table, as he waited in line to order coffee. There Blaine sat with a look of frustration on his face. Kurt watched him as he rubbed his fingers against his forehead. At that moment, one of Kurt's biggest fears hit him like a freight train. He always knew Blaine's adjustment from Dalton to McKinley would develop some kind of resentment. He wondered if that fight from last night was one of the manifestations of that resentment.


	3. Twins

The next day at school, Blaine tried to push his fight with Kurt out of his mind. He tried to focus on school and Glee club, but every once in a while something would come up to where all he was thinking about was Kurt. He walked through school most of the day angry and frustrated. He tried to hide it from everyone the best he could, but it wasn't enough. He didn't want to have to answer question or end up spilling his guts out again to Miss Pillsbury.

Still, nothing helped. He went through the entire day thinking about what Kurt said to him. He thought about their conversation at Lima Bean. He thought about the long silent ride home in Kurt's car. How in the world can Kurt say he was being selfish? Was he selfish to think of himself for once? Was it selfish to consider how he felt about the relationship? The fact was Blaine felt bombarded and smothered every time something went wrong with Kurt. He felt like he had to sit and listen, while Kurt sat and unloading all his anxiety onto him. He had to break away for a little while. He had to focus on him. Since his previous plan to meet up with Kurt was fudged by their tension, Blaine decided that afternoon to walk around the school and try to get his head together.

All of the students and most of the teachers had gone home for the day. The halls were rather quiet. On occasion one of the custodians would pop into the hall for maintenance. As Blaine was leaving the school when he walked by the auditorium and heard someone playing the piano and singing. It sounded a lot like Malik. He stopped in the middle of the hall and listened. It sounded like he was practicing scales. _How very Rachel Berry of him, _thought Blaine.

He popped his head inside and watched Malik sit at the piano, pounding out notes and singing along. Blaine really started to fall in love with his voice. He really didn't understand why. He knew why the kids in Glee loved it. There was definitely a star quality to it. But for Blaine, it was something much deeper and intimate than that. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was something.

Blaine sat down in a chair in the back row of the auditorium and listened more. Soon, Malik went from running scale to playing an actually accompaniment. After a few bars, Malik began to sing. He sang Adele's Someone_ Like You_. It was so beautiful and powerful. Blaine sat through the whole song loving every minute. He thought back to his boyfriend. Kurt knew how play the piano, but Blaine didn't think he sang and played at the same time. Not like Malik, at least.

The song soon reached the end. Thankfully it was so dark in the auditorium Blaine couldn't be seen. It would be kind of awkward for Malik to look up and catch Blaine staring at him. As Malik stopped playing, he wondered what he should do. Was he to just up and leave?

It was then Blaine heard the sound of clapping. He looked around to see it was coming from offstage. Then someone walked on stage over to the piano next to Malik. Blaine couldn't believe his eyes. He thought he was seeing double for a minute.

There standing next to the boy he first saw in Glee club was an exact replica. Only this one was not dressed in Ralph Lauren. Rather he wore a t-shirt with a sports team plastered on the front of it, a pair of Wrangler jeans, and Converse shoes. Malik Harris had a twin brother. "That was all right, little bro." he said.

Malik lowered his eyebrows. "Little bro?" he said, "only by two minutes."

"Ah-ha!" his brother said, "so you finally admit that I am older."

"Yes, Damian, you are the oldest. Now, get over it."

"Okay. If you're done with your little practice, or whatever, we need to go. Mama's waiting for us come home." Damian said.

"Shoot. I forgot, sorry. Let me get my bag." Malik said.

"You know she doesn't like us coming home late."

"Yes. I know."

Blaine sat on the back row and watch as Malik and Damian left the auditorium. "Wow, there are two of them." He said to himself.


	4. The New Directions Captain

Blain's eyes were beet red the next day at school. He felt exhausted after a night of not being able to sleep. Majority of that night was spent calling Kurt, trying to get him to talk to him. But Kurt never picked up the phone. Blaine figured that he really stepped in it, this time. He hoped that Kurt wasn't too upset for him to come by the Lima Bean later that day, but what would he say to him, aside from "I'm sorry for being such a dick."

But Blaine was right in a sense about what he said to Kurt, he thought. He probably should have choose a better way of telling Kurt, besides raising his voice, but he did feel that he had been spending a lot of his time solely on Kurt. In everything he did, while they were at McKinley together, Blaine put Kurt's feelings above his own. He hesitated to do things, like audition for Tony in West Side Story, in fear of what Kurt would think. But was that Kurt's fault? Kurt seemed every happy and supportive when Blaine got that the role, instead of him.

Blaine had a lot of thinking to do. Maybe spending so much time with Kurt wasn't the reason he was upset. It just seemed as if something in their relationship was missing. There was something Blaine felt every time he and Kurt were together. It was the essence of their relationship, the very thing that made it thrive. But over the past few months, whatever that thing was didn't exist anymore. Blaine couldn't put his finger on it. Was it sex? No, they had plenty of that. All Kurt had to do was appear to be in tears and before Blaine even realized it, they were peeling each other's clothes off. Whatever it was, Blaine wanted it back so badly.

It was late in the day at McKinley; all classes had ended for the day. Blaine made his way down the hall going to Glee practice. On the way to the choir, he passed by several other Glee members, standing in the hall by their lockers. Something very strange was going on with all of them. They all would turn, grin at Blaine, and then go back to whispering amongst themselves. Blaine felt a bit awkward every time one of them would give him a look. He decided to ignore it for now and just keep walking.

Just as he entered the Choir room he saw Tina sitting by herself, texting Mike on her cell phone. "Hey, Tina," he said to her, "how's it going?"

Tina looked up at Blaine and chuckled to herself.

Blaine once again felt awkward. "Okay," he said, "I just came from the hallway where everybody else did the same thing. They would look at me and laugh. What is going on?"

Tina shrugged her shoulders grinning. She knew full well what was going on. Blaine had no idea about the secret meeting of the Glee member, that didn't include him for one simple reason. They all got together to decide who the new captain of Glee club would be, since Rachel and Finn graduated. They all took a poll and the vote was unanimous. They all decided that Blaine was the most experienced and talented member of the Glee club. If anybody deserved to be captain, it was him.

The bell rang. The first member to enter the choir room was Malik Harris. Blaine made eye contact with Malik and sheepishly smiled back at him. "Hi,…Malik. It's good to...see you." Blaine voice was rather nervous around the boy for some reason. Not really in Blaine character to be nervous around new people. He usually showed more confidence.

Malik smiled back at Blaine. "Good to see you too, Anderson." He said.

Blaine was a bit surprised that Malik knew his last name. He didn't recall every telling Malik his name. In fact, Blaine couldn't recall ever talking to Malik. As the other members of the club gathered inside the choir room, Blaine sat down next to Tina. He leaned closer to her and said, "Um, how do you think Malik knows my name. I don't think I ever told him."

Tina thought for a minute. "Oh, he was at our…"she said, and pause not wanting to tell Blaine about the meeting, "never mind."

Artie wheeled over next to Sam sitting one row in front of Malik. "Hey, Malik, my brotha." He said. "That audition for Glee Club last week was off the hook."

Sam smiled and nodded in agreement. "Dude, seriously. This guy is like a perfect combo of Mercedes and Kurt. Right, Blaine?"

Blaine hadn't paid a bit of attention to anything said. When he heard his name, he turned his head to Sam. "What?"

"Malik's voice is just like Kurt's." Sam said.

"Yeah, it is." Tina added, "But it's like he can hit the same notes Kurt can, but he's got Mercedes "Park and Bark" power behind it."

The rest of the club all exclaimed in agreement, except Blaine. His eyes were fixed on Malik, sitting in the corner with his legs crossed smiling and blushing. Blaine thought he looked adorable.

Mr. Shuester entered the class. "Well, it's good to see that everyone getting acquainted with Malik. And really Malik it's good to have you this year." He said.

"I'm glad everyone feels the same way." He said. Rory stuck out his fist toward Malik, who slowly bumped his fist against his. Malik, indeed, never felt more welcome by a group of people like this. And they were all people who he could relate to. For the first time in his life he felt included.

"All right, Tina has the floor." Mr. Shuester said.

Tina stood and went to the center of the classroom. "As most of you know," Tina began, "there was a recent meeting of select Glee members to take part in our vote for this year's captain. And after very little deliberation between the members, it gives me great pleasure to announce that this year's Captain of the New Directions is…Blaine Anderson."

Applause erupted all over the choir room. Everyone stood to their feet and gave Blaine a standing ovation. In their minds, there was no one in Glee club more worthy of this than him. They all watched in amazement during his performances with the Warblers at Dalton Academy. And though, his transition to Mckinley was greeted with a bit of hesitation from some of the former Glee Club members, Blaine brought the same charisma and spark just as he had done at Dalton.

Blaine found himself in a state of shock. He lost the ability to form words. Not could describe his demeanor more than the word humility. To Blaine being the leader of New Directions was going to be a big responsibility. His time at Dalton was marked by his outstanding performances, but he was never put in a position of leadership. Now, here at Mckinley, Blaine was going to have that chance. He stood and walked toward the center of the choir room. Tina gave Blaine a quick hug, congratulating him on the honor. "Um,…wow, I don't know what to say, you guys." He said to the club, scratching the back of his neck. "I hope that whatever happens this year, I give you guys my best. And I hope that this year we win nationals again. I know, with all the people we loss last year, that might be hard, but we still got that same star power. And who knows, we may gain more than we've ever had this year. Thank you, guys. I promise I won't let you down."

"Thank you, Blaine." Mr. Shuester said, patting him on the back as Blaine and Tina took their seats. "Well, I don't hope you guys are ready to work this year, because I think it's time for another assignment." Mr. Shue turned to the white board and wrote the word "World" across the board.

"World?" Rory said in that thick Irish accent.

"Yes, Rory." Mr. Shue said. "Now I know you guys like to perform songs you hear on the radio and that are more up to date, as you like to say. But now I think we need to try something outside our comfort zone. So what I want you to do is find songs that are not only popular here in America, but in other parts of the world as well. There are several artists all over the world that are bursting at the scenes with popular music. I think of Ireland, England, Australia, Africa, and South America. This week's assignment: Glee Club is going Global.

A brilliant idea came to Rory's mind. "Mr. Shue, I think I kind of know what you mean. And there is something I do want to try out, if that's okay?"

Mr. Shue was amazed at the quick response of the young Irishman. "Okay, Rory. Take it away." He said.

Rory went to the front of the choir room. He nodded to the band and they began to play the opening bars of an old Irish traditional song that was made popular by Rory's favorite celtic group, Celtic Thunder, entitled Dulaman. Rory sang the song more powerful and strongly than he sang any song in Glee.

The other glee members enjoyed it. It made Rory especially happy as he continued to sing it, to know that one of his all-time favorite songs from back home in Ireland was being enjoyed here in America. At the conclusion of the song, Rory bowed and the entire club applauded him.

At the end, as everyone was leaving Glee Club. Blaine made an effort to try and talk to Malik. He didn't want Malik to feel as if Blaine were trying to blow him off. He felt bad about looking like an idiot before. He was able to catch up to Malik in the hall. "Hey, Malik," he said. Malik stopped and turned to Blaine. Blaine went on feeling a bit more confident than before. "Hey, I just wanted to let you know that if you need anything while you're here, don't hesitate to ask." Blaine watched as Malik's expression changed from a smile to a raised eyebrow. Even after he already said it, Blaine felt awkward even more. He started to wonder if he would always look like an idiot to this guy.

"Anything like what, Anderson?" Malik said, hoping the answer would not be a date.

"You know, help…knowing your way around Mckinley, um,…who the teachers are? You know, stuff like that like."

"Are you okay? It seems to me like every time you tried to talk to me, you start acting all funny and what not."

"Who me?...No, um, I just want to…"

Malik thought his gesture was kind and cute, but he needed to cut the guy off, before he wore himself out. "Hey, tell you what. If I need any help with any of these assignments for Glee club, I'll give you a holler. Okay?"

"Great! Fantastic." Blaine said, with a little too much enthusiasm that made him feel even more uncomfortable. Thankfully, it sent Malik away only chuckling to himself. What was the matter with him? Every time he tried to talk to Malik, he started acting like this. His palms were now sweaty and his heart was beating faster than before. Blaine had to stop talking to Malik and avoid him all together. But that would be difficult, seeing he is now the captain of New Direction. So, instead of ignoring him, he needed to find what was making him so nervous and simply get over it.

Maybe a phone call to Kurt would take his mind off of it. Blaine pulled out his cell phone and had Kurt on speed dial within seconds. He put the phone up to his ear as it rang and rang. But there was no answer from Kurt, only his voicemail. Blaine glanced over at a clock on the wall, seeing that it was three fifteen pm. Kurt would have been off the clock by now.

Great! Kurt was still upset with him and didn't want to talk. Going to the Lima Bean officially became a bad idea. Blaine sighed, and as the answering machine ended and the beep came, he said into the voice mail, "Hey, sweetie. It's me. Good news, guess who the captain of the New Directions, now?" His voice sounded too pitiful. Whatever good news he intended to give Kurt was drowned in a sea of misery.

Blaine couldn't handle not being able to talk to Kurt. He couldn't stand not being around here this long. He had to find some way of reaching out to him.


End file.
